What pops into your mind’s eye when you think of growing old? A bingo card? The beige hallways of an old folks home? For many, Peter Anton's house embodies an end-of-life nightmare: the utility companies long ago shut off the heat and electricity, the floorboards are rotting, and the detritus of a chaotic life is precariously stacked to the ceiling. But for the filmmakers, Anton's home is a treasure trove, a startling collection of unseen and fascinating paintings, drawings and notebooks; not to mention Anton himself, a funny and utterly resilient character worthy of his own reality TV show. Determined to form a coherent future out of a fractured past, they set out together to host an exhibition of the old art. Filmed over 8 years, Almost There is an epic coming-of-(old)-age story about what it means to become elderly in America, how this process can be complicated by mental illness, and how the whole bizarre panoply of life can be redeemed by art.

"The film is hilarious, heartbreaking and haunting. It’s dark, disturbing, thought-provoking, powerful and, at times, simply hard to watch. It’s a brilliant piece of work and a must-see." - Jeff Manes, Gary Post Tribune

"4.5 Stars. Almost There blends personal portrait with an exploration of the responsibilities of the director in fascinating, exhilarating ways." - Columbia Tribune

"Anton’s dream of being discovered masks a deeper one—of being forgiven. No sooner does his name appear in the headlines than a profoundly upsetting charge from his past resurfaces, accompanied by phone calls expressing outrage and anger. This is the sort of unexpected turn that could’ve caused the entire film to implode on itself, or worse, remain unfinished and unseen in the musty shadows of Anton’s basement. Instead, this is where “Almost There” blossoms into one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen." - Indie Outlook

"Anton fights back at one point — "I’m not a project," he tells Rybicky — he, indeed, becomes more than a film character, but a human being whose life is significantly changed by the documentary that he takes part in." - Anthony Kaufman, Indiewire

"We want so badly for artists to be geniuses whose lives we can only dream of emulating. Almost There paints a different, more down-to-earth picture. Art is rarely made in a vacuum, no matter how remote or isolated the artist’s environment is. It is also a searing portrait of postindustrial Indiana as it attempts to resurrect itself after decades of neglect. Just as Anton has to leave the wreckage of his past behind, so the Rust Belt — brilliantly evoked in the film by David Schalliol’s environmental cinematography — must find some new way to grow, prosper, and move forward." - Dmitry Samarov, BELT Magazine

"Formally different but also evocatively unresolved is Almost There, a seemingly familiar character study of an aged outsider artist that becomes a thoroughly self-examining, and open-ended rumination on filmmaker-subject complicity, responsibility, and purpose. Even during the early stages of the narrative, filmmakers Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden invite us to think about the nature of their relationship with subject Peter Anton, whom they meet sketching children at a local fair in East Chicago, Indiana, and follow home to his jerry-rigged disaster of a home. “They took pictures of my underwear,” Anton narrates via voice-over, effectively critiquing proceedings from a future tense. “People told me to beware. Maybe they were out to take advantage of me. I want my story told, and that’s why I put up with it.” Such mutual interrogation takes place long before the filmmakers find out about a dark chapter in Anton’s damaged life, which forces them to further question the entire endeavor—particularly a gallery show they’ve set up for Anton in Chicago. He’s apologetic about not being truthful to the filmmakers, but doesn’t regret what it’s done to the film. “I’m not just a project,” he says. Yet Rybicky goes one further than exposing the seams of the doc filmmaking process. He interrogates similarities between Anton’s family and his own, which pushes the film past self-reflection into self-exposure. It’s rare for a film to be both sincerely outwardly and inwardly focused, and pretty much unheard of for one to explore, as Almost There does, how they can be effectively the same thing." - Eric Hynes, Museum of the Moving Image

"Almost There digs deep and goes further than your average artist profile film." - JUXTAPOZ

"Beautiful... the heart of Almost There lies in the unmistakable persistence of compassion, seen not only in the directors, but also in the people who choose to help a man who struggles mightily to help himself." — Seth Boster, Vox Magazine.

What pops into your mind’s eye when you think of growing old? A bingo card? The beige hallways of an old folks home? For many, Peter Anton's house embodies an end-of-life nightmare: the utility companies long ago shut off the heat and electricity, the floorboards are rotting, and the detritus of a chaotic life is precariously stacked to the ceiling. But for the filmmakers, Anton's home is a treasure trove, a startling collection of unseen and fascinating paintings, drawings and notebooks; not to mention Anton himself, a funny and utterly resilient character worthy of his own reality TV show. Determined to form a coherent future out of a fractured past, they set out together to host an exhibition of the old art. Filmed over 8 years, Almost There is an epic coming-of-(old)-age story about what it means to become elderly in America, how this process can be complicated by mental illness, and how the whole bizarre panoply of life can be redeemed by art.

"The film is hilarious, heartbreaking and haunting. It’s dark, disturbing, thought-provoking, powerful and, at times, simply hard to watch. It’s a brilliant piece of work and a must-see." - Jeff Manes, Gary Post Tribune

"4.5 Stars. Almost There blends personal portrait with an exploration of the responsibilities of the director in fascinating, exhilarating ways." - Columbia Tribune

"Anton’s dream of being discovered masks a deeper one—of being forgiven. No sooner does his name appear in the headlines than a profoundly upsetting charge from his past resurfaces, accompanied by phone calls expressing outrage and anger. This is the sort of unexpected turn that could’ve caused the entire film to implode on itself, or worse, remain unfinished and unseen in the musty shadows of Anton’s basement. Instead, this is where “Almost There” blossoms into one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen." - Indie Outlook

"Anton fights back at one point — "I’m not a project," he tells Rybicky — he, indeed, becomes more than a film character, but a human being whose life is significantly changed by the documentary that he takes part in." - Anthony Kaufman, Indiewire

"We want so badly for artists to be geniuses whose lives we can only dream of emulating. Almost There paints a different, more down-to-earth picture. Art is rarely made in a vacuum, no matter how remote or isolated the artist’s environment is. It is also a searing portrait of postindustrial Indiana as it attempts to resurrect itself after decades of neglect. Just as Anton has to leave the wreckage of his past behind, so the Rust Belt — brilliantly evoked in the film by David Schalliol’s environmental cinematography — must find some new way to grow, prosper, and move forward." - Dmitry Samarov, BELT Magazine

"Formally different but also evocatively unresolved is Almost There, a seemingly familiar character study of an aged outsider artist that becomes a thoroughly self-examining, and open-ended rumination on filmmaker-subject complicity, responsibility, and purpose. Even during the early stages of the narrative, filmmakers Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden invite us to think about the nature of their relationship with subject Peter Anton, whom they meet sketching children at a local fair in East Chicago, Indiana, and follow home to his jerry-rigged disaster of a home. “They took pictures of my underwear,” Anton narrates via voice-over, effectively critiquing proceedings from a future tense. “People told me to beware. Maybe they were out to take advantage of me. I want my story told, and that’s why I put up with it.” Such mutual interrogation takes place long before the filmmakers find out about a dark chapter in Anton’s damaged life, which forces them to further question the entire endeavor—particularly a gallery show they’ve set up for Anton in Chicago. He’s apologetic about not being truthful to the filmmakers, but doesn’t regret what it’s done to the film. “I’m not just a project,” he says. Yet Rybicky goes one further than exposing the seams of the doc filmmaking process. He interrogates similarities between Anton’s family and his own, which pushes the film past self-reflection into self-exposure. It’s rare for a film to be both sincerely outwardly and inwardly focused, and pretty much unheard of for one to explore, as Almost There does, how they can be effectively the same thing." - Eric Hynes, Museum of the Moving Image

"Almost There digs deep and goes further than your average artist profile film." - JUXTAPOZ

"Beautiful... the heart of Almost There lies in the unmistakable persistence of compassion, seen not only in the directors, but also in the people who choose to help a man who struggles mightily to help himself." — Seth Boster, Vox Magazine.